Katie Radloff Recieves Invitations to the NCAA Championships

Sophomore Will Swim Three Events at Extraordinarily Fast and Deep Meet

03/06/08 1:55PM

INDIANAPOLIS, IND - William and Mary fans had something to cheer about Thursday with the release of the official psych sheet for the 2008 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, as sophomore Katie Radloff (Arlington, Va.) will compete for All-American honors in three events March 20-22 in Columbus, Ohio.

Official Psych Sheet (PDF)

Radloff, who was named Swimmer of the Meet last week at the CAA Championships, will race in the 50, 100, and 200-yard freestyle events for the second consecutive year. At the CAA meet, she won all three events with conference-record times and broke the NCAA automatic qualification standard in both the 50 free (22.61 seconds) and the 100 free (49.25 seconds). Under NCAA rules, any athlete who achieves an automatic-qualifying time in any event may also swim any other events that they have achieved at least a provisional-qualifying mark.

Radloff is the only W&M female swimmer to receive an invitation to the NCAA Championships in two different years, and ties men’s diver Shawn McLane ’86 as the only two to do so for either men or women. Also an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 50m and 100m freestyles, Radloff last year placed 63rd in the 50 free, 47th in the 200 free, and 32nd in the 100 free. This is the second year that Radloff will be the only CAA swimmer racing at the national championships

Traditionally the deepest and fastest swimming meet in the world with the possible exception of the Olympics, this year’s NCAA Championship has gone past hyper-fast into ludicrously-fast. Of the 485 invitations handed out in 18 swimming events (divers qualify through regional championships), only nine individuals and one relay were invited without having achieved an automatic qualification, roughly two percent of the field.

The Championships will take place March 20-22 at the Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion, on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.